Deep Down Inside Exhausted
by This-used-to-be-my-town
Summary: Takes place right after last weeks episode... First attempt at fanfic please be kind!
1. Leaves VS Flowers

Callie Torres thought about her statement to Dr Bailey- Deep down inside exhausted had pretty much hit the nail on the head. She was completely alone, abandoned, her best friend and lover had left without so much as a goodbye. In the days that followed Erica's departure she had stared at her cell every free moment she had, willing it to ring with her mind. A week later and no phone call, she had given up. She woke up in the mornings, and stared at Erica's side of the bed. Granted, it had only been Erica's side for a very short time but it still had been where Erica slept by her side. Erica had told her she was glasses in that very bed. How could Erica just cast that suddenly to the wind? She felt the tears well up inside her throat, yet again, and swallowed them down because of the intense physical pain that crying would no doubt cause.

"Hey there, Hows that new day coming?" Mark asked with his pretty boy smile.

"Not good Mark, not good" Callie replied with resignation tinged in her voice. "You know, I didn't call her, I didn't call, I just waited for her to call me and she, she never did. Not once, She just cast me and the hospital to the side, like we were one and the same. Like I was the one who stole her patient's heart." Callie bit her lip and creased her eyebrows.

"Torres! You mean, you didn't _even_ try to call Erica?" Mark looked at Callie hard

"W- what, no, I didn't call her, she left me that night, standing in front of the hospital, like _I_ had done something wrong, so no I didn't call her." Callie responded with a sneer, wasn't Mark _her_ friend?

"So you are sitting here devastated and abandoned and you never once tried to call her.? Not once?, Torres, what is wrong with you? Pick up the damned phone and call your girlfriend, you had a fight that's what people do!" Mark turned away and walked of the room, shaking his head, as he left.

Sighing Callie laid her head back against the pillow. Call Erica, Could she? Could she just call the woman who walked away from her, spouting out that she really didn't know her at all. The woman who had made her feel guilty because she wasn't an all or nothing sort of girl? Call Erica, those two words kept pinging against the corners of her mind.

The orderlies came and moved her to her own room, Dr Shepard insisted that she needed to stay so they could observe her because of the concussion, she had suffered when she banged her head against the floor.

A broken nose and a concussion, I guess things really didn't have to go up from where I was earlier today, she thought miserably. She let herself drift off to sleep, with thoughts of calling Erica and the predicament she found herself in weighing heavily on her mind.

_Callie was on the edge of a cliff overlooking a beautiful valley. The valley was decorated with a rainbow of flowers, all different colors, and each one, as lovely as the other. The site before her, took her breath away. Above she heard the sweet voice of a mockingbird. Her eyes darted above to seek out the creature. Instead, what she beheld nearly caused her to faint. Leaves. leaves of every shape and size filled her vision. They had golden specks on them and glistened in the morning sun. They were so bright and bold that they were almost to much for her to gaze upon. They were leaves. She saw leaves, brilliant, beautiful leaves and as beautiful as the flowers were below, they simply paled in comparison to the leaves that were floating in the sun above her._

_The mocking bird who had first caught her attention began his sweet song, again and though she __couldn't find the creature, Callie was sure she could hear him sing "Call her, the leaves, you saw the leaves, tell her that."_

Callie awoke to the nurse checking her to make sure she was not comatose, "We have to check your state of consciousness, every hour."

"Um I am a doctor and I am well aware of protocol thank you. Callie said shortly.

The nurse didn't say anything else, instead she turned around and walked away. Noting that the bone doctor was definitely awake and quite grateful that Dr Torres wouldn't be setting her bones that night.

Callie, closed her eyes and winced, embarrassed by her own shortness, with the nurse. The short fuse obviously stemmed from the dream she had been having. A dream in which the leaves out shone the flowers. Calliope Torres was definitely seeing leaves, and knew that somehow, someway she had to let Erica know. Those were her last thoughts as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

"Callie, Callie wake up. Don't you want to go back to the apartment? Dr Shepard has released you." She heard Yang's voice, which was entirely too close. Didn't Yang know how to respect her personal space. What the hell was she doing in her room? Oh God Erica is going to freak, she thought as she felt herself being shaken.

Callie was jarred awake with a rush of pain that began from her noise and pounded into her head.

"Ow ow ow! What the hell is going on!" Callie shouted, her eyes fluttered open and she saw Cristina dressed in her lab coat, along with an all to bright sun filling her vision. It was then, that reality started to sinking, the pain was her broken nose and the pounding in her head was the concussion. Of course Cristina wasn't in _her _room. Well at least not her room at the apartment. And there was no Erica, anymore, to freak out at the sight of Yang, walking in on the two women in their bedroom.

"What time is it?" Callie questioned.

"Its eleven AM, You've been cleared to go home."

"Okay, I am up. Did Dr Shepard or Dr Sloan write me anything for pain?" Callie asked in a semi moan.

"Yes, I have the bottle here, but don't take them until you get somewhere, where you plan on staying." Cristina ordered. "Dr Sloan filled them at the hospital pharmacy. He asked me to bring them to you and wake you up. He also asked me to let you know that your clothes are right there on the chair, just let the nurses' desk know when you are ready to be discharged. I've got to go, I have a surgery to scrub in on, I'll see you later" Cristina, didn't even give Callie a chance to respond before, she turned and headed out of Callie's room in a fired up, I am a resident who can't miss a surgery, sort of way.

After the lengthy paper work that went along with getting discharged, Callie was grateful to lay her head down on her own pillow, in her own bed. She had just drank a glass of water and downed the Vicodin Mark had prescribed her for pain.

Relaxing and letting her thoughts wander, they took her back to the dream she had the night before. She had seen the flowers, the leaves, the magnificent leaves and could literally hear the bird when she closed her eyes.

As if on cue her cell phone beeped beside her head bringing her out of her thoughts. Sitting up, she took her phone off of the night stand beside her bed and plugged the charger into the cell. She scrolled through the contacts, found the number she was looking for and stared. Since when had dialing a phone number become so hard? And how do I know that she's kept this number or that she's even still in Seattle? Should I really be calling her? What am I supposed to say? All of these thoughts swirled in her mind as the vicodin took effect, relaxing her, and letting the fear of rejection slowly fade away.

She swallowed with eyes half open, hit the send button, and held her breath. "This number has been forwarded to an automatic voice mail messaging service, The recording said, then she heard a brief pause. "You have reached Dr Erica Hahn- I am no longer in the Seattle area but if you'll leave me your name and number I will return your call." Brief and to the point Callie thought, a lot like how Erica lived her life. "Beep" Callie took a deep breath " "Erica, uh its me, Callie, I probably should have called much sooner but, but I just kept hoping you'd call me. Erica, I really miss you, I just I- I just want to talk. Please if you could, could you just think about calling me? Erica I saw leaves, brilliant beautiful leaves and I saw flowers too but they weren't as pretty as the leaves. and if this doesn't make sense its cause of the vicodin, A patient broke my nose and I had a concussion so I am, I am at home, so you can call the cell or the apartment or anything and I'll answer."Callie's voice started to crack and she couldn't hold back the tears. ".I s s saw ,sniffle sniffle. I saw leaves Erica, please call me. A final sob and she wrapped up the message with softly whispered " Goodbye."


	2. Arrivals and Departures

A/N

Thank you to all those who have read and commented! I really was apprehensive about posting, anything I'd written! I was afraid of being crucified! I found a beta reader! Thank you whoisyourmutti!!!

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After a long day, as the new head of cardiothoracic surgery at Sacred Heart Hospital in Springfield, Oregon, Erica Hahn, flopped down on her bed. Breathing a sigh of relief, she had finally been given two days off. It had been two weeks since she had gotten her stuff moved into the apartment but her bedroom was the only room that had actually been unpacked-even the bathroom only had the bare essentials in place. Being the head of Sacred Heart's team was the most challenging position she had ever taken. It seemed like she was always being pulled in ten million directions. Her days were exhausting, and she barely had time to eat much less, turn her new place? into an actual home.

Picking up her phone, she dialed her voice mail. She was still receiving messages from doctors affiliated with SGH and Mercy West. Erica had been professional and returned their calls to let them know she wasn't available for a consult unless their patents met her new hospital's criteria.

"You have one new forwarded message" the recording said. Erica, out of habit, pressed one, not waiting for the prompt. What she heard next made her heart stop.

It was twelve am and Callie was wide awake. She had drifted off to sleep earlier, after leaving the message. The open hearted "I miss you and I see leaves" message. She had yet to hear anything. Who knows? Maybe Erica wouldn't call, maybe she was _that_ mad at her or maybe Callie had just pushed her too far over the edge. The latter was more likely the cause of Erica's sudden coolness. She once again found herself staring at the empty space beside her. Once it had been George who occupied that space. She had been wildly in love with him. Despite the proposal and the Vegas marriage, she discovered he didn't feel the same way. It had become painfully obvious when he slept with Izzie Stevens and chose his friends over her, every single time. Then along came Erica, and after a rough start, Callie had been sure that this relationship would go places, until the night Erica stormed off never to be seen or heard from again. She ran her finger lightly over the pillow next to her, wishing Erica would call and at least say goodbye. Goodbye she could accept. Someone just abandoning her, like she meant nothing was killing her.

An hour later, there was a knock on the door. Callie had drifted off to sleep once more and was startled awake by the knocking. Rolling over to look at the clock Callie's drugged brain was confused. 1:00 AM? If Yang doesn't have her key and is making me get out of bed in this state, I am going to choke her, she thought to herself. Slowly getting out of bed, painkillers having a large part to do with that, she made her way to the door. Unlocking it and looking out through the crack between the chain and the door, her heart beat suddenly filled her ears. Standing in front of the door was none other than Erica Hahn.

"Well Callie, you called and you begged me to talk, a five hour drive later and I am here, so I suggest you let me in, so I can hear you out." Erica said coldly.

Callie hadn't expected the blond doctor to be standing on her doorstep and she certainly wasn't prepared for the Cardio-Hahn-cold-tone, Erica was taking. "Uh sure, OK" Callie said as she opened the door and let Erica inside.

"Why don't you sit down?" Callie asked.

"Fine," Erica said as she walked to the sofa.

Callie sat next to her, and Erica moved over so that they were not sitting anywhere near intimately close.

"I am gone two weeks Callie and you end up with a busted nose and a concussion. What happened? Izzie started sleeping with Sloan too and you had to fight for your man?"

"Bitter much, Erica? Where did that come from? I pour my heart out to you and you drive down here just to berate me? Where the hell are you living and working now, anyway? Because obviously you aren't in the Seattle area," Callie asked with sarcasm dripping from her tone..

"I'm heading up the cardiothoracic team at Sacred Heart Hospital in Springfield, Oregon. A friend of mine recommended the hospital for its impecible ethics when I told him I was looking for a new job ASAP." Erica replied in the same Hahn-like manner.

Callie sighed, "Look Erica, I don't know what is going on or why you're even here. I wanted to talk, to tell you that-that I miss you. Life, my life, isn't the same without you at all. I know I made huge mistakes and did some crazy things but at least I never left you, or if I tried to, I always came back."

"You never left me? Oh how about when I poured my heart and soul out to you, after an amazing two hours of sex and you look at me, as if I've slapped you and run out like a scared uncommitted asshole of a man? How about then? Or better yet, how about when you ran to Sloan hours after making love to me to 'find yourself'? So yeah you did walk away from me, but you didn't do it physically as much as you did emotionally. In fact I wonder if you were ever emotionally involved at all?" Erica ranted in a disgusted tone.

Callie took a deep breath "Erica I know I did horrible things and handled things all wrong, but what I was trying to tell you is that, I am sorry and that I see the leaves and the leaves, you, look better than all the flowers in the world. Even this, Hahn-to-resident-tone, you've taken with me is better than not having you around at all." Callie said as she slumped down into the sofa.

Erica expected Callie to let an angry retort fly, and was snarkily awaiting the next insult, but when Callie chose the, this Erica is better than no Erica statement, it stopped her dead in her tracks, slowly melting the icy layer around her heart. "Callie, look, I should have called you and told you I was leaving. Honestly, I didn't because I thought if you cared, you would have called me. When you didn't, I just assumed I was a Mark Sloan fling in a woman's body for you. I decided to cut my losses and just go." Erica for the first time since she had arrived at the apartment, looked Callie in the eyes and what she saw there, broke her heart.

"Uh, look, Callie I have to go, I will call you though I promise. I just need to process this. I left in part because what you did with Sloan was eating me up inside. I sat on it for a week, I said, OK but it wasn't OK, Callie, I let all the walls I had spent my whole adult life building down for you. I think well, I know that I loved you and I still do but I don't know if I can or if I will ever be able to trust you again." As those words fell out of Dr Hahn's mouth she stood up and walked to the door.

Callie unable to say anything, quickly stood up and touched Erica on the shoulder "Hey wait" As Erica turned around Callie pulled the older woman into a tight hug. "Despite everything, please know that I am sorry and that I really do miss my best friend. " Callie whispered, "I'd kiss you on the cheek but I'm afraid this thing on my nose is sort of in the way." .

Erica broke the contact and with tears filling her eyes, she said " Callie, I will call you, as soon as I've had some time to think OK? "

"Sure, I am just really glad you came, and we at least talked." Callie said giving her hand a squeeze.

Erica waved goodbye and said "Goodnight" as she walked out the door.


	3. something worth fighting for

A/N OK guys here goes! I am so sorry that it took me so long with this chapter. I had a spur of the moment trip to florida and then the holidays and all the craziness that goes along with those/. I also wrote another version of this chapter and never was satisfied with it. From here on out I will be much quicker to post. Again I am so sorry. Also I didn't have this edited because its been so long and I figured you guys would appreciate a post sooner rather than later! Sorry for the mistakes that are sure to follow. I will write more very soon!

Chapter 3

Erica flew out of Callie's apartment, fleeing from the overwhelming emotions that were flooding her senses. She aggressively wiped at the tears on her face. The fiery tears that marked all of the uncertainty she felt, with the trails they left on her cheeks. How could this be happening? She had been so sure that leaving Seattle, and leaving Callie were the right decisions. She knew that if she didn't get away from the woman- who had taken up quite a bit of residence in her heart, in a very short amount of time, there would be nothing left when Callie chose to leave her. Once Callie moved into her soul completely, Erica knew that when Callie decided that she was going to move out of her soul. all that would remain of Erica Hahn, would be a broken heart. A broken heart that she was in no way, equipped to repair. So she left, no that wasn't right, she ran.

And now, now she had driven five hours, to come back and hear Callie out. Callie who been so sincere with pools of deep emotion swimming in her chocolate brown eyes. Those eyes that made Erica want to stay the night, right there on the couch.

She couldn't do this, she couldn't give herself to Callie, Callie had already proved to be flighty at best, where their relationship was concerned. She couldn't let Callie in, she didn't let anyone in, and she certainly couldn't risk the depths of love that she had already felt for Callie, getting any deeper, only to be left in the end. She just couldn't. Unlocking her car, she prepared for the five hour trip home. It was one am, and she was already exhausted but she had to get out of Seattle. She didn't have a choice.

It had been two weeks since the night Erica had shown up at Callie's apartment. Callie had still heard nothing, she called, texted, emailed and did everything else humanly possible to get Erica to talk to her. When Erica had said she needed time to think, Callie in no way, expected her to take weeks to think about what she had said. Erica seemed to be good at running from Callie, not that she could blame her. Callie knew she had given Erica plenty of reason to run, but she also knew that Erica was worth fighting for, even if she had to go to Oregon, to the hospital where Erica worked, Callie was determined that they give what they had a chance. After all, a best friend, and a lover, didn't come along in the same package very often. She was going to hold onto that package as hard as she could.

"Chief, I need some personal time, I have something to take care of and loose ends that need to be wrapped up" Callie said in a nervous tone.

"How much time Torres, this is a really bad time to decide you have personal issues to deal with. We are already understaffed. At best, I can give you three days," Webber answered with a look of no negotiations on his face.

"OK Chief that works for me, I'll finish my shift today, and plan on taking a road trip tomorrow, uh I mean taking my personal time starting tomorrow."

The Chief eyed her with a stern-boss like- look " You're damn right, you'll work your shift today!" He walked away muttering something about residents still being puppies even in their fifth year.

Callie worked her shift, a shift that was slow going and pretty uneventful at best. She set a few bones and set up a surgery for when she returned. She used the slowness of the day to spend the rest of her time catching up on charts. Involved in charting, she was a little startled to hear the door open.

"Hey I have been looking for you, all day," Mark said

"Its been pretty uneventful, so I decided to catch up on charting." Callie said without looking up.

"The Chief put me on-call for the next three days to make up for personal time that you decided to take, what personal time and how come I wasn't informed?" Mark asked incredulously.

"It was sort of a rash decision, I still haven't heard from Erica since the night she showed up at my apartment and I decided that I was going to have to fight for her, to fight for us. So I am going to her. If she won't answer my phone calls or anything else, she will have to deal with me in person." Callie replied hoping that Mark, as her friend would agree with her decision.

"I am shocked Torres, but I think you should do this. Mark looked at her with his most charming smile, and if you get the girl Torres, don't forget I am very open to a threesome.

"Shutup Mark!" Callie said as she threw her pen at the man whore.

"Hey hey I got a new leaf, I am growing but that sort of growth takes time, " Mark laughed. "I meant what I said though Callie, I really think you should go after her, I get the feeling that Erica has trouble letting people in, which means you are going to have to force your way back into that door." Mark turned to walk out of the room.

"Hey Mark, despite your lame comment from before, you really ARE growing. Sorry for getting you sentenced to on-call duty." Callie said.

"No big deal Torres, just make it worth it." With that Mark walked out of the office leaving Callie alone to finish her shift.

Her shift had ended as uneventful as the entire day had been. Callie grabbed her stuff and headed to her apartment. Since she didn't know where Erica lived, she decided to show up at the hospital first. Then they could go from there. She went ahead and packed three days worth of clothes. She had no intentions of going up there and coming right back home again, as Erica had done. She was going and she was damn well going to make sure she was in Erica's face enough that Erica had to talk to her. She wouldn't make the mistake of letting Erica leave with another "I need to think" excuse. She was going to stick it out. Once she was packed she threw her clothes in the car and changed into her pj's, set her alarm for six am and drifted off to sleep.

Callie was sitting outside Sacred Heart Hospital in Oregon. More than a little nervous and devoid of the self confidence she once felt. She was doing this, its just that she was terrified that Erica would reject, her attempts at chasing after her. She could see the look of contempt on Erica's face when she figured out that Callie had come to her work. She knew Erica was all business while she was in Dr Hahn mode, but to be fair, Erica hadn't left her another choice. Callie took a deep breath, "Here goes nothing" Callie said as she got out of her car and headed for the front entrance of Sacred Heart hospital.


	4. and the walls came tumbling down

A/N This ended up being the final chapter, I hadn't planned on it but it seemed like a good place to wrap things up. I hope you guys like it! Thanks so much for all your comments and kindness. It is much appreciated!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer- I don't own any of them, they belong to Shonda and ABC.

Chapter 4

Callie entered the hospital, noting the warm and friendly architecture, which was rare within a hospital. There were live plants in every corner, lush and green, a sign that life was budding in this hospital. People didn't come here to die, they came here to live. It was very different from Seattle Grace's white cement tiled floors and walls. Looking up at the directional chart on the wall, she found the Cardio floor. She hoped that's where she'd find Erica and figured it was worth a shot. From there she made her way over to the elevators on the back wall, took another deep breath, and pressed the button. Even the elevators were welcoming with oak wood covered doors, accentuated by a gold trim. As soon as she hit the button, the doors opened. She stepped in and pressed the number five. Seconds later she was in the middle of the fifth floor. She scanned the hall for some sort of movement or a nurses station. As if on cue, she saw Erica hastily making her way down the hall, with her head down, obviously reading a chart, while making her way to her destination, Right then, a part of Callie wanted to tuck tail and run. She knew Erica would not be happy to see her, at her job, her brand new, no one knows me here, job. Callie swallowed and stepped into Erica's path.

Clearing her throat, she managed to get out the word "Erica"

The blond stopped dead in her tracks and looked up from her chart so quickly, Callie was sure Erica would get whiplash.

Through gritted teeth, Erica demanded. " Callie, What are you doing here?"

Callie looked down at her feet before raising her eyes to meet Erica's. "I wanted to talk, and well you weren't and aren't answering texts, emails, phone calls or anything else so I decided to come to you.."

'You decided that here, where I work, where I leave my personal life outside the doors- because we all are well aware of the mess that occurs if you drag your personal life into a hospital- was an appropriate place to attempt to engage me in conversation? Sure Callie let me just tell my patient who is scheduled for emergency surgery in twenty minutes to hang on, so that I can have a conversation with you" Erica rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Erica if you are busy it can wait, I am here and I am not going anywhere. I came here because you left me no other choice. I don't have an address, but I did know where you were working. You were supposed to call me, you never did so that's why I am here.." Callie said in a matter of fact tone.

"Well I _am_ busy, and I will be busy for the rest of the day. You can sit in the waiting room if you want, or go back to Seattle. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other" after uttering the cold statement Erica turned around and headed in the same direction she had been heading before Callie stopped her.

Callie watched Erica's back getting farther away from her and something inside her snapped. This was not happening again, " Dr Hahn, I am trying here. I know you are busy but I suggest you make time, and find a room for us to have a quick consult!"

Erica obviously flustered by Callie's loud demand, in front her colleagues stopped, turned around and without saying a word grabbed Callie's sleeve and pulled her down the hall into the nearest on call room.

"Callie so help me if you ever try anything like this again, I will see that security drags you out of this hospital and you are never allowed back within its walls again" Erica angrily spit out.

"Do you understand me?" Erica continued. "I have never mixed my personal life with work and I won.,."

"Erica!" Callie interrupted, "Shut up and shut up now! I drove five hours to talk to you, five hours and you treat me as if I am an annoyance? You treat me like you feel nothing and the thing is, you feel so much you are terrified. You spend your life harboring those walls. Well guess what, I am here to tell you that, you, Erica Hahn are worth fighting those walls.. You deserve to be happy and I know you were happy with me, so you go ahead and push me away, all you want because I am not going anywhere. I'll be in the waiting room at the end of your shift. I won't beg, Erica, I won't. But I will be in the waiting room at the end of your shift. I hope that I know you well enough to know that you'll meet me there. Callie grabbed the handle on the door, and gave Erica one last hard glance and made her way to the lobby.

Erica sat down on the cot and placed her face in her hands, and quietly let a few tears fall. What Callie had just said and more importantly the lengths that Callie had gone for her-no one else had ever done. In all her 41 years, no one had ever cared enough about her walls to try to plow through them. The way she treated Callie was more than embarrassing. She never ceased to be amazed at the ease in which she was harsh. She took a deep breath, shook off the tears, and remorsefully headed to surgery.

At just before seven pm Callie entered Sacred Heart once more. Her eyes held a quiet fear. She was so afraid Erica wouldn't be there. That she, Callie Torres, had made so many mistakes with the woman, that there would be no getting through. If what she had said and done, didn't bring Erica to the waiting room, in a few short minutes. Then there was nothing she would ever be able to do, to tear down the walls that Erica fought so hard to keep.

When she arrived in the cardio waiting room, Callie took a sweeping glance, No, Erica. She took a deep breath and sat down. Hoping beyond measure that Erica would show up. Callie watched the clock on the wall and literally counted along with the second hand as it moved around the clock. Tick-tock tick-tock, wasn't there a nursery rhyme that said something about tick tock and a mouse and a clock, she thought to herself.

"So are you planning on staring at that clock all night or are you ready to leave? Erica asked in a soft tone.

Callie turned to see Erica standing there, with her hands in her lab coat pockets. She breathed a sigh of relief, and said "no, just wasn't sure what to expect, but I am ready.."

"Ok then come on, I guess we'll just go to my place and order take out, so we can talk comfortably," Erica said gently.

The two women made their way to Erica's car in silence.

"You just want to ride with me, and I'll bring you back, here to your car?" Erica asked.

"Yeah thats fine, I am horrible with directions, anyway"

Erica got in the driver's seat and unlocked the door, Callie got in and the women continued their silence.

"Here we are Erica said, as she flipped on the lights"

"Um Erica there's no furniture available to sit on, there are boxes everywhere?" Callie observed.

"I haven't had time to unpack, or the energy for that matter. The bedroom is unpacked though, there's a TV and everything in there. Just, here, step over these and I'll order the take out. Chinese is still OK right?" Erica asked.

"Its fine with me" Callie replied, suddenly very nervous. She had Erica willing to actually talk and not run. She couldn't run from her in her own home, well not one in which Callie wasn't familiar with. What she would say to her, she wasn't sure. Sighing she headed back to the bedroom and sat down on the unmade bed. Erica grabbed her take out menu, called and put in their order.

"He said about forty five minutes, have you eaten anything today?" Erica asked softly.

"No I didn't, I couldn't find any food establishments and ended up getting lost, by the time I found my way back to the hospital, your shift was almost over." Callie said as she plucked invisible lent off her sweater.

"Well, I have some chips in the drawer over there to tie you over, if you want."

"No its fine I'll wait, I am not really that hungry right now, anyway." Callie replied continuing to pluck the nonexistent lent.

Erica, took a breath and reached over and grabbed the hand that was responsible for picking invisible lent. "Callie, look at me, I am sorry for the way I treated you earlier, I had no right. I just- what you said in that room, you were right. I don't do anything with people easily. Relationships, apologize, befriend, all of it is very hard for me. So those walls, they are there. And you hurt me, I don't get hurt. So you are right I am scared."

" Callie stared intently at Erica, and cupped the older woman's cheek in her hand, "Its OK Erica, its OK to be scared, but I am here, I want this, I want us. At least for us to have a fighting chance. When I am with you, I am understood, you get me. You get me in ways that no one ever has and I was an idiot,to play with that the way I did. You are my best friend and were my lover. Do you know how hard that is to find? After you left and I got hit in the nose by the patient, I laid there on the floor, so exhausted, and so filled with remorse. Erica I have never been as exhausted as I was after you left. I was deep down inside exhausted, and all it took was for you, to show up on my doorstep that night, to bring me right out of it. So yeah I am here, and I am going to fight for us, hopefully by your side.

Erica placed her hand over Callie's hand on her cheek, "I – I don't know what to say, what I feel for you, is more than I've ever felt. I just, I am scared, as those words left her lips, Erica began to sob, in her whole life Erica could count the times on her hand, she had cried with such emotion and now two of those involved Callie Torres. Callie pulled the older woman into a tight embrace and rubbed small circles on her back. "Its OK Erica, I can't promise to never hurt you again, because I am human. I am going to mess up, but I can promise that I am here, I am here and I am ready to love you, if you'll let me."

Erica broke the embrace and drank in the women before her. The beautiful, raven haired, woman. The woman who had just asked to love her. The woman who had really and truthfully fought for her. "Callie, you, _are_ glasses, I love you and have loved you since, well I don't know for how long, but you have my heart. Those walls were to keep me from falling apart, not to keep you out. The truth is you were never locked out. I just locked myself in. This is so new to me, but I want you, I want this. and I want there to be an us. I don't know how we'll work it out, but we will I will fight just as hard and right by your side for as long as you'll have me."

Callie leaned in and kissed Erica passionately, with every ounce of emotion she had felt since Erica had left. Pausing for breath, Callie whispered, "that sounds good to me."

Erica picked up the phone.

"Who could you possibly be calling, at this very, well, this very intense moment?" Callie whined.

"I am canceling our take out order, I don't think we'll be needing it." Erica smirked.

Callie barely waited for Erica to hang up the phone before she was straddling the blond Cardio Goddess. Erica again took in the dark haired beauty, "I did miss my best friend, Callie, really I did, But I've missed this just as much, You are beautiful in every sense of the word." Erica pulled her close and kissed Callie breathless. The two of them, made love that night until they both fell asleep tightly embraced in each other's arms. Though neither knew what tomorrow would bring, they did know that they'd be facing it together.

The end.


End file.
